Contributing Factors

Damage and Injuries

Equipment

Probable Cause

The over-pressurization of a laboratory ball mill reactor designed for operation under slightly elevated pressures resulted in a serious injury. The apparatus had been routinely operated under argon and hydrogen pressures of 5-10 atmospheres for nearly two years. The apparatus had not been tested for operation at pressures greater than 10 atm.

A visiting intern, frustrated in attempts to hydrogenate magnesium silicide through ball milling in the previously noted pressure range, attempted to perform the operation at higher pressures. The approximately 70-ml reactor was loaded in a glove box with 0.5 g of magnesium silicide and six milling balls. Upon pressurization to 80 atmospheres, a 270-degree rupture occurred around the perimeter of the reactor. The blow-out of the reactor view more

Lessons Learned Corner

H2 Tools is intended for public use. It was built, and is maintained, by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory with funding from the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Fuel Cell Technologies Office.